New Delhi, Aug 30 (IANS) The Rajya Sabha was adjourned till noon Monday after opposition members voiced protests over a Gujarat police officer’s petition to the Supreme Court that she was being pressurised to implicate former state minister Amit Shah in the 2005 Sohrabuddin Sheikh killing.
As soon as the Rajya Sabha assembled for question hour, members of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) raised the issue of Additional Inspector General of Police Geetha Johri’s curative petition in the Supreme Court that she was being forced by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to implicate politicians, including former Gujarat home minister Amit Shah, in the case.
Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitely said t was a serious issue that Johri, now Rajkot police commissioner, alleged that she was being ‘compelled by a central agency to implicate’ politicians in the BJP-ruled state.
‘I would like the government should react, especially since that the state government had asked Supreme Court to investigate the matter. If CBI does threaten officers, then this house should discuss the politicization and misuse of CBI,’ said Jaitely.
This led to a furious reaction from the ruling benches, who raised the objection that the matter was sub-judice.
Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Prithviraj Chavan said that the government ‘is fully prepared to discuss the working of CBI as has been demanded’.
He added that Johri’s allegation was ‘patently false’. ‘It is a matter between the officer and the Supreme Court and the investigating agency cannot be brought into it,’ said Chavan.
The opposition members were immediately up on their feet, objecting to the minister’s statement.
With both sides unrelenting, Rajya Sabha Chairman Mohammad Hamid Ansari adjourned the house till noon.
The Gujarat Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) has been accused of killing Sheikh in a staged shootout Nov 26, 2005, in Ahmedabad. His wife Kauserbi is suspected to have been killed at a farm near the city two days later.
Former minister Amit Shah, who has been arrested by the CBI, has been asked searching questions about the orders he issued in relation to the transfer of key police officers who are now co-accused, and his phone conversations – 32 times with Deputy Superintendent of Police N.K. Amin – on the day Sohrabuddin’s wife Kauserbi is suspected to have been killed.
